Why I Hate… SUPERNATURAL

I have a major hate-on for SUPERNATURAL. I don’t dislike or feel ambiguous toward the show, but feel pure, unadulterated hate.

Now I know that for some of you, them’s fightin’ words. Mention SUPERNATURAL and many of you — our host, the TV Addict himself — go weak in the knees and look for new superlatives with which to sing its praises, all of which leaves me saying… “seriously?”

For the record, nobody was more stoked for the launch of this show than I, a lover of just about all things horror. Yes, I’m the guy who can be found sitting in the corner of a dark bar making a case for the argument that the second Nightmare On Elm Street flick — Freddy’s Revenge — should not be considered a true sequel in much the same way that Season of the Witch (which is completely free of Michael Meyers) should not be considered a true Halloween flick. And every month, I run to the mailbox to get the latest novels from my horror book of the month club (featuring such authors as Richard Laymon, Edward Lee and Douglas Clegg).

Yeah, I like my horror.

So when the WB announced a series which they promised would offer weekly thrills and chills, I was there with bells on. At the very least, I hoped for something BUFFY-esque, combining witty scripts with great writing. This being television, I suspected the promised chills would most likely be, at most, shivers.

But the series failed to deliver even those. Worse, the scripts tried to pass off cliched dialogue as witty banter, and the special effects were… um, let’s be kind and call them on par with CHARMED.

Worse, Jensen Ackles idea of acting seemed to involve speaking in a voice that sounded kind of like a little boy imitating a grown man. Or maybe Keith Olbermann imitating Bill O’Reilly. And while Jared Padalecki has never been the greatest of actors, he seemed more bearable as a second banana on GILMORE GIRLS (where he played Rory’s first love, Dean) than as a lead here.

But the biggest sin was, for me, the complete lack of actual scares. While I dug the idea that each week the show would sort of recreate a ghost story/urban legend that we were familiar with, the format actually resulted in predictable tales and a lack of suspense.

At that point, I stopped tuning in regularly and instead became an occasional viewer, so forgive me if some of what I’m about to say is inaccurate. I have no doubt I’ll be corrected by the Winchester brothers’ legions of fans. That said, one thing I can not stand is when a show introduces an overall arc (which this one had from the beginning as the boys sought to figure out the truth about the death of their fricasseed mom) and yet feels as if it’s making things up as it goes along. At some point during season two, it was established that several other women had died in exactly the same manner as the late Mrs. Winchester, with the women literally burning out when their children were six months old. And yet in the very first episode, it was seeing his girlfriend turn into a ball of flames which convinced Sam to join Dean on their demon quest. Unfortunately, Sam’s girlfriend did not have a six month old child, meaning that the season two revelation was not thought through for continuity.

Worse, when it came time to expand the cast in season three, they introduced an oh-so-original character named Bela who fulfilled practically every missing clichen in the book: She’s exotic (“She has an accent! Ohhh!”), amoral (“She’s bad… but does good things!”) and fulfills the need for a love/hate relationship (Will Dean sleep with her kill the malicious minx?).

Now, I’m not saying SUPERNATURAL is the worst show on television. I’m not necessarily even saying it’s bad. (Okay, yeah, I sort of am.) What I am saying is that it’s not what it could have been. I hate seeing a show fail to live up to its potential. I hate seeing people fawn over a show that fails to live up to its potential.

And maybe what I hate most of all is just not “getting” what it is that makes so many people go gaga for something that in my never-exactly-humble opinion is average at best.

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How old are you???? In all of your comments, you sound like you’re 10 years old. Did your mommy help you spell the big words?????????

Miss Supernatural

Click bait, lol.

Miss Supernatural

Yes, a lot of what you said is inaccurate and I strongly disagree about well… Pretty much everything.

The worst part is how, in the past you (or at last someone from this site team) went to the Set. To think that I clicked on those links of your interviews and articles makes me sick now. So much hypocrisy. Well, at last now I understand a lot better some of yours “articles”.

Anyway, thank you for ruining your site and give me perspective as well as reasons to never come back here, even if you write about a show that we both like.

Guest

Yeah, no strong woman besides Jo, or Ellen, Missouri Moseley, Naomi, Jody Mills, Pamela Barnes, Meg Masters, or Abaddon… you have watched the show.. right? How about Ruby! Who had the ultimate double agent arch to top them all?! That wasn’t a strong character? Linda Tran? You’re going to tell me that Linda Tran wasn’t a strong focused woman?

There are few characters that haven’t died in the shows run, men and women included but to say there isn’t strong woman characters is flat out wrong.

Guest

Yeah, no strong woman besides Jo, or Ellen, Missouri Moseley, Naomi, Jody Mills, Pamela Barnes, Meg Masters, or Abaddon… you, have watched the show.. right? How about Ruby! Who had the ultimate double agent arch to top them all?! That wasn’t a strong character? Linda Tran? You’re going to tell me that Linda Tran wasn’t a strong focused woman?

There are few characters that haven’t died in the shows run, men and women included but to say there isn’t strong woman characters is flat out wrong.

NightOfTheLivingFig

Yeah, no strong woman besides Jo, or Ellen, Missouri Moseley, Naomi, Jody Mills, Pamela Barnes, Meg Masters, or Abaddon… you have watched the show.. right? How about Ruby! Who had the ultimate double agent arch to top them all?! That wasn’t a strong character? Linda Tran? You’re going to tell me that Linda Tran wasn’t a strong focused woman?

There are few characters that haven’t died in the shows run, men and women included but to say there isn’t strong woman characters is flat out wrong.

DonnaO

OK, your opinion has been noted. I will go on loving the show. : )

Rachel

So you don’t like supernatural , ok. Why feel the need to write shit about a show that a lot of people enjoy. If you have not seen every episode NO you will not understand anything. Jessica was killed because she was getting in the way, Sam would not had went off hunting with his brother if jessica did not die. This show is not about being a scary horror show, it’s about the relationship if 2 brothers. I take it you don’t have siblings? Several of your comments show you literally have no idea what you are talking about I suggest you watch the show then judge. But keep your trap shut until then. And for Jensen and Jared not being good actors, not sure what show your watching because it’s not supernatural.

Rachel

The mothers were killed because they walked into the nursery as the demons were there. Not every mother was killed. Nothing in your comment makes sense. How old are you 12?

Jenya Ys

Azazel took all the special children and pitted them against each other. The one who’d survive would be destined to be Lucifer’s vessel. Sam is the only one who survived. There are no more special children, which ones are you wondering about? You obviously stopped watching early on otherwise you and so many others wouldn’t be saying that the special children storyline is “rumbled and random”.

Elizabeth Ray H

TALK ABOUT AN IDIOT.
your writing shows you have no idea about the actual story of the show.ok there are a few inconsistencies with story but on the whole its fine.the acting is perfect , the story is awesome and the supernatural content i’m glad is as it is.instead of being usual run-of-the-mill stupidity where characters are being a wuss and you are taught to be afraid of everything at least Supernatural teaches you to not be afraid of unknown,to be brave and overcome your fear.and love and family and so much more. it does for me.this is what Supernatural is about.about honor and courage.

Sam and Dean, babe

Oh, hon you’re so, so, wrong. See let me explain you a thing: SHIPPING! See, fangirls don’t hate women that get in the way of our love for sam and dean. In fact, we put the boys in relationships on purpose. Destiel? Yeah? Ring a bell? Also, we hate Bela because she is the epitome of bitchy hate-able shit, not because of her vagina. So please try watching the show or thinking for half a second before you throw shit at the whole show. thanks.

Sam and Dean, babe

“Stoopernatural”. Ouch. That was a good one.

Sam and Dean, babe

Bitch you didnt fucking WATCH THE SHOW. Jess was killed because Azazel wanted Sam to open the gates of hell and lead his demon army and Jess distracted him from that. The mom was killed if she got in the way of Azazel feeding demon blood to their children so not every mother of a cursed child was killed. Also, Bella was never once portrayed as a good character and was there for like five episodes and Dean did not like her. And, it’s not a purely horror show. Its about the deep bond between two brothers and the physical and emotional struggles they face as they attempt to do the impossible. Next time try watching the show before you write a bs article about how you hate it.

lilia

supernatural is more a live action fan fiction than a tv show . its only interest being the physique of the 2 lead actors .

About the TV Addict

Started in February of 2006 as an outlet for Daniel Malen (The TV Addict) to share his love of television with anyone who would listen, theTVaddict.com has quietly grown into one of the internet’s premiere destinations for television news, interviews and opinion. More about me.